Are you ready to add years to your life and life to your years? In this eye-opening episode of the Berman Method podcast, we challenge the status quo of merely treating symptoms and dive into addressing the root causes of health issues. Learn how to confront age-related muscle loss with practical advice on nutrition, hydration, and consistent strength training. Drawing inspiration from icons like Dick Van Dyke, we underline the importance of staying active at any age to truly enhance your quality of life. We'll reveal the often profit-driven motives of big pharmaceutical companies and why a proactive approach to health is crucial.
In our discussion, we emphasize the power of discipline and consistency in maintaining physical health. With insights from Gary Vanderchek, you'll learn how to tell the difference between burnout and temporary exhaustion, ensuring you stay motivated and avoid unnecessary dependency. Hear personal stories about overcoming severe back pain and adapting workouts to address hormonal changes as we age. Simple routines like daily lunges can be your secret weapon against aging-related issues. Join us for heartfelt advice and practical tips to stay active and independent, making every year a healthier one. Tune in and transform your approach to aging!
Check Us Out On Social Media - Facebook: @bermanwellness , @physicaltherapynaples, @Berman Golf Instagram: @berman_wellness, @bermanphysicaltherapy , @Berman Golf Youtube: Berman Golf, Berman Physical Therapy TikTok: Bermangolf, Bermanwellness
Email us - drberman@bermanpt.com jenni@bermanwellness.com
Check out our website - www.bermanpt.com www.bermanpt.com/wellness www.bermangolf.com
Are you ready to add years to your life and life to your years? In this eye-opening episode of the Berman Method podcast, we challenge the status quo of merely treating symptoms and dive into addressing the root causes of health issues. Learn how to confront age-related muscle loss with practical advice on nutrition, hydration, and consistent strength training. Drawing inspiration from icons like Dick Van Dyke, we underline the importance of staying active at any age to truly enhance your quality of life. We'll reveal the often profit-driven motives of big pharmaceutical companies and why a proactive approach to health is crucial.
In our discussion, we emphasize the power of discipline and consistency in maintaining physical health. With insights from Gary Vanderchek, you'll learn how to tell the difference between burnout and temporary exhaustion, ensuring you stay motivated and avoid unnecessary dependency. Hear personal stories about overcoming severe back pain and adapting workouts to address hormonal changes as we age. Simple routines like daily lunges can be your secret weapon against aging-related issues. Join us for heartfelt advice and practical tips to stay active and independent, making every year a healthier one. Tune in and transform your approach to aging!
Check Us Out On Social Media - Facebook: @bermanwellness , @physicaltherapynaples, @Berman Golf Instagram: @berman_wellness, @bermanphysicaltherapy , @Berman Golf Youtube: Berman Golf, Berman Physical Therapy TikTok: Bermangolf, Bermanwellness
Email us - drberman@bermanpt.com jenni@bermanwellness.com
Check out our website - www.bermanpt.com www.bermanpt.com/wellness www.bermangolf.com
Speaker 1:
This is the Berman Method podcast, featuring Dr Jake Berman and physician assistant Jenny Berman. We are here to treat problems and not symptoms. Disclaimer this podcast is for entertainment purposes only and not to treat anyone or to give medical advice. If you are interested in any information that we are giving and would like to use this for yourself, we recommend that you contact your primary care physician or reach out to us and ask us questions about yourself specifically. Enjoy.
Speaker 2:
We are rolling baby with the Berman Method podcast brought to you by Pfizer, just kidding. Just kidding JK Dr Jake Berman here with my lovely co-host Jenny Berman, physician assistant, when we're focused on treating problems and not symptoms. We're David against Goliath going against Pfizer and the corporate med, not Pfizer directly, just big pharma.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, big Pharma.
Speaker 2:
We are 100% certain they are focused on profits over patient outcome and client retention. And that's very evident because not a single one of their pharmaceutical medications focuses on curation Correct and not a single one of them doesn't have at least one side effect.
Speaker 1:
Correct again.
Speaker 2:
That requires another pharmaceutical medication to treat that side effect.
Speaker 1:
Which also has a list of side effects.
Speaker 2:
Oh my goodness, and it just goes on, and on, and on.
Speaker 1:
Right, it's like those commercials that you hear where they have to put it on triple speed just to get it all in at the end.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it reminds me of the car sales. Every time you see a car lot a local car lot that's advertised in their memorial day sale or their july 4th 4th of july sale. It's the biggest sale in the history of sales and the greatest sale. You'll never see prices this low and then at the very end, prices may vary aka, you probably aren't getting that great of a special there's one out of a hundred will actually qualify for these prices, and you are not that one right, all right.
Speaker 2:
So here we are, the heat of summer warming up nicely warming up thick storms yeah, man, we've had really nice rain here on myrtle lane the past few weeks. We've got lakefront property now.
Speaker 1:
Not a lot of value to that lakefront property but it is lakefront. Lots of water down here.
Speaker 2:
Jenny's Tahoe is four-wheel drive and my truck is only two-wheel drive, so I have to leave my truck at the road and take her car to our house. I wish I still had my airboat, because that would be a lot easier to get back and forth.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's what I was saying. We just need to ride the airboat around the neighborhood. Yeah, lots of rain, lots of water, but it's nice.
Speaker 2:
Yes, much needed. Bring it on. Rain brings life. We love it. All right, good what are we talking about today, of life actually? Oh yeah, that is what we're talking about rain brings life, and that's interesting.
Speaker 1:
You said that talking about quality of life and what can extend our quality of life bringing life to your years and not years to your life I like that one.
Speaker 2:
One of my other favorite sayings is you don't get old and then stiff. You get stiff and then you get old.
Speaker 1:
Right. And now we can probably extend that a little bit and say weak, and old Say again Weak, not just stiff. We get stiff and weak, and that's what makes us old Say again Weak, not just stiff, we get stiff and weak, and that's what makes us old.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
As opposed to just being stiff.
Speaker 2:
Yes, this is a big one. This is a really, really big one, and it's hitting home really hard for Jenny and I, because we're watching it unfold in front of our eyes right now with not just one family member, not just two, but multiple family members, and it's like holy cow, like how, how did they age this fast, this much, this fast? It's like, wow, how does this happen?
Speaker 1:
Right, right. And what we've concluded is, you know, at first it's like okay, is it just simply the aging process? Now we've talked about time and time again that there is a as we age, we have something called sarcopenia. So as we age, we lose muscle mass, and this is going to be related to age-related changes, but also hormonal changes that occur as we age. So every year older that we are, we're losing a percentage of muscle mass, unless we're combating it the right way. And combating it the right way with getting adequate protein in our diet, keeping our blood sugar stabilized, hydrating appropriately, consistently and exercising consistently with strength training, strength training being that of not only lifting weights and it doesn't have to be heavy, heavy weights, but we need to be lifting some weights to increase the amount of gravity our body is working against, but also doing it with the right form and doing it consistently enough. Using weights once or twice a week is not enough. Using weights with the improper form and using the wrong muscles, or really not activating your muscles, is not enough either.
Speaker 2:
It's not easy. It's never easy and it's funny because you know, I've got one of those apps on my phone called TimeHop. Timehop brings up pictures that you took on this day years ago. So on this day last year you took this picture. On this day five years ago you took this picture Seven years ago you took this picture and just coincidentally, this showed up on my time hop this morning and it's a quote from Dick Van Dyke.
Speaker 2:
Dick Van Dyke, comedian actor, has a whole list of accomplishments throughout his life and it's a picture of him smiling. Looks like he's probably in his 80s, maybe 90s. He lived to 98, based off of Wikipedia, and the quote is this in my 30s, I exercised to look good. In my 50s, I exercised to stay fit. In my 70s, I exercised to stay ambulatory. In my 80s, I exercised to avoid assisted living. Now I'm in my 90s and I'm just doing it out of pure defiance.
Speaker 2:
And that right there should be our motto, because it's not easy. Just because you walk eight miles a day does not mean you're exercising. You're doing work, but you're not exercising, you're not combating the toll that gravity is placing on you. And I thought about this a lot the past couple of days and after seeing some family members struggle, and it's so relevant how you look at the proportion of your weight to your strength and that's ultimately what will predict your quality of life, meaning that as you get older, if you gain 20 pounds but stay the same quote, unquote strength, you're technically getting weaker.
Speaker 1:
Right.
Speaker 2:
So that makes it that much harder for you to get up and down off the ground, that much harder for you to get on and off a boat, that much harder to get on and off a lawnmower, that much harder to bend down and pick up a grandkid and stand up again. But the same thing is true. If, as you get older, you do not gain any weight at all but you lose strength, like the proportion, the ratio is still going in the negative direction. If you maintain your weight but lose strength, you're technically weaker. If you gain weight but maintain your strength, you're technically weaker. And both of these are horrible Because from here it's a slippery slope to quality of life. I'm not going to do this anymore because I'm scared that I might not be able to get up.
Speaker 1:
Right.
Speaker 2:
Or I'm embarrassed what if I can't do it? And then I get embarrassed and it's like, oh, I don't want to do that, so I'm just going to avoid it completely. So it's something that everybody thinks that it just happens overnight. And it doesn't just happen overnight. This is a slow snowball in the wrong direction, where it is identical to you put a frog in a pot of water that's room temperature and you slowly increase the temperature of the water till ultimately, it's boiling and the frog dies. Because it happens so slow, the frog didn't even know that the temperature was rising, so he cooks himself to death, essentially, versus if the pot of water was boiling. And he threw a live frog into a pot of boiling water he'd just jump out.
Speaker 2:
That's what's happening to all of us if we let it.
Speaker 1:
Right, the slow process that we're not even seeing the negative effects that it's having on us day to day until a year later. We're experiencing the difference in our weakness or our inabilities one year later than we had been a year prior, and the thing we have to know is we can reverse this process. We can reverse sarcopenia. We can reverse the weaknesses that we have or the damage that we're getting to our joints by carrying the extra weight and not strengthening the muscles around the joints appropriately. We can reverse that and get the abilities back, get the capabilities back, get the endurance, the motion. We can get that back if we're doing the right things to combat it.
Speaker 2:
I love it. Let's take two extremes for explicit examples. Right now, if I'm a very active adult, meaning that I can change my own tires, I can mow my own grass, I can work on things, I'm very competent and capable, so I'm active. I'm not sitting in a recliner all day, every day, but I gain 20 pounds. Now, all of a sudden, that 20 pounds over the course of a day, if I do not increase my strength and I only gain the weight, that starts to play a huge toll on specifically our knees. The knees are the ones that take the blunt of the force when you get heavier, but not stronger. So now, all of a sudden, my knees are bad and I can't do everything that I want to do as fast as I want to do it because of my damn knees. Yes, now the exact same thing is true when you're not gaining weight, but you're getting weaker. Now it's not just your knees, now it's your hips, your back, your knees, your ankles, your shoulders, your middle back, your neck, it's your whole entire body, because now you don't have the strength to combat gravity. And again, this is such a slow process that nobody really understands that it's happening, and this is a perfect example of why we do monthly testing.
Speaker 2:
Every single month we look at four or five things and we compare it to the previous month and we're like, oh, I'm stronger this month than I was a month ago. Or, in my case, this past month I was stronger out of one out of the four of the things and I'm going, ooh, that's not good. I had consistently progressed. Then, all of a sudden, this past month I only improved on one out of the four. A sudden, this past month I only improved on one out of the four. And then I have to say, okay, why did that happen? Oh, there is a couple of long weekend trips there where we missed I missed you don't miss where I missed my Friday workout or my Sunday workout. And the older we get, the more impactful it is when you miss a workout.
Speaker 1:
Right, and it's not just missing the workout. I mean that's a huge part of it is missing. Two or three workouts a week. Every other week certainly is impactful on our strength, but it's also what occurs when we're not exercising. Our meal plan isn't as on point on par. However you want to say it, it's not as perfect as it normally is. When we're traveling, we probably have less, not probably. We definitely have less protein. We definitely have less water when we're traveling and not in our normal routine during the week. So it's a combination of not exercising two or three days plus getting that lack of protein and lack of water that's significantly impacting.
Speaker 2:
Exactly, and I can't say this enough. It never, ever ends. You got to get back in there. Both of us were laying or going to bed last night. We both went to bed early last night for this long trip and we're going what if we just slept in tomorrow? Wouldn't it be nice to just sleep in? Nobody would even know. We'll just wake up at 6.30 and pretend like we worked out, get our lives together. Nobody would even know.
Speaker 1:
And it would be really easy to do that.
Speaker 2:
Super easy but we didn't.
Speaker 2:
Because it's not easy to get your ass up out of bed at four o'clock in the morning and get in the gym and start pushing weights around and do the cardio and do the work. It's not easy, right, and that's why there's a reason. There's a reason why it's such a small percentage of people in their 80s and 90s that are living the highest quality of life and avoiding nursing homes and avoided assistive devices and just living the life that they want to live. There's a reason why they're doing it and there's a reason why there's only a very small percentage of them because it's freaking hard.
Speaker 1:
Right, right, and that's what we're laying in bed. That was the one thing I said, actually, even an hour before we went to bed. I was like is it just haunting you that we have to get up at four o'clock tomorrow morning again after the last five or six days of getting up at 6am instead of 4am. And that's where Jake's like well, we could just stay in bed and I'm like you know we could.
Speaker 2:
But then I said no, right, I said yeah we both kind of said, yeah, that's probably not the right idea.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, he agreed that that's not going to get us back in the routine, because then, say, we slept until six today. Waking up at four tomorrow is still going to be hard, it's still going to stink. So what's the point in putting it off another day versus just fighting it and getting up and getting back to a routine and getting started? And we know it's always better for us and we feel better once we're up and moving. But we also are getting back to our routine day. We got home, you know, late on Sunday and I still. We ordered the groceries on our ride home so that they could get delivered once we got home so we could actually spend the time unpacking all our bags. Groceries got delivered. We could still cook dinner and prep our snacks to prepare for the week so that we had enough protein going into the week. So just getting back to the basics of your protein, your hydration and your movement, your routine, is what's important to keep us going long term.
Speaker 2:
It is very important and I can't say this enough it's not easy. There's a reason why I was listening to a podcast this morning and Gary Vanderchek was one of the guests on there and I don't particularly care for the guy, I think he's. You know a lot of talk, a lot of flash, and you know that's great for motivation. I don't think it's great at all for execution. But he did say one thing that really caught my attention, and it was having the discipline to do it over and over again. Where some people say that they're burnt out, it's not burnt out, you just got a little burn. Burn out means that you quit doing it and then, because you were never interested in in the first place or you lost sight of why you're doing it in the first place, you don't start again. So what the way I relate it to me and us personally is I will do anything in my power to avoid back pain again. I'll do anything because I had it horribly in 2018. It was the worst thing I'd ever went through. I don't ever want to have it again. So every Wednesday when I'm doing leg day, I think about that moment. I'm going. I don't want that again and I force myself to do things that I don't want to do, knowing that it's for my own good.
Speaker 2:
Same thing for joint replacement. Same thing for avoiding a assisted living facility. I don't want to have to go there because of something that was in my control. That's the most important thing. There's going to be life events that occur that are out of your reach or out of your control, and you're going to have to go to an assisted living facility.
Speaker 2:
But geez, louise, don't make it because you're too freaking weak to take care of yourself. Don't make it because you're too freaking weak to take care of yourself. Think about that. How many people in the assisted living facilities right now are there because they're just too weak to take care of themselves? That's not an excuse. Get down on the ground and get back up again. If you can't do it once, keep trying until you can do it once. Once you can do it once, do it twice. Once you can do it twice, do it 10 times. Once you can do it once, do it twice. Once you can do it twice, do it 10 times. Once you can do it 10 times, do it 20 and just keep doing it. There will never be a day that you can't take care of yourself if you can get down on the ground and get back up again multiple times, over and over again.
Speaker 1:
That's right. That's right and it's you know, we've said this many times on this podcast is it's not about motivation. You and I don't have the motivation every single day to make sure we're eating enough and getting our snacks in and to get to the gym before 5 am Every Sunday. I don't have the motivation to do all the grocery shopping and snack prep and house cleaning, but we're disciplined because we know that's what's going to allow us to continue progressing.
Speaker 2:
Zero motivation this morning. Actually, it was probably negative motivation. It was motivation to stay in bed, but it was the discipline to say no. That's the easy way. Everything costs something. Everything in this life costs something. If you want success, it's going to cost you time somewhere. It's going to cost you time with your family. It's going to cost you personal somewhere. It's going to cost you time with your family. It's going to cost you personal time. You're going to have to get the time somewhere if you're going to be successful in the business world Right. Same thing is true with your physical life. It costs time. It costs sweat, blood, tears, heartache, and if you want to be physically capable of taking care of yourself, it starts now. It starts in your 30s, it starts in your 40s. It starts right now when you start getting aches and pains in your 30s, 40s and 50s and you're like okay, my knee hurts, so I'm going to avoid this. It just happened to another family member right In his 30s. My knee hurts, so I'm not going to go skiing, water skiing.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
It's like wait a minute. So is the knee pain going to go away next year? Or are we just done water skiing and you're not even 40 yet?
Speaker 1:
Right.
Speaker 2:
Like this is how it happens. This is when it happens. It happens right here, right now. You don't just wake up when you're 75 years old and you're like oh wow, yesterday I could do everything, I want to, Today I can't. It starts today.
Speaker 1:
Right, right and again, we have to combat the hormonal changes that are occurring. The hormonal changes are going to happen. That is part of the aging process, but we have the abilities to combat that and I'm seeing that now, being pregnant. When we did our last monthly testing, my pull-ups were terrible and I was very frustrated by it because I've been exercising Although I'll admit my workouts have not been as intense or up to the quality that they were pre-pregnancy, because my body is tired. But I'm getting out there every day and I'm doing something. I'm moving, but just doing the movement has not been enough. I've still seen muscle loss as I've gone through these hormonal changes of the pregnancy. It doesn't mean that I can't get it back and doesn't mean that I'm not adjusting my workouts now to try to prevent any further muscle loss through the pregnancy. I definitely have been. But again, it's with the aging process, with hormonal changes that occur naturally. We have to start adjusting to combat that and make sure that we're maintaining our strength through that process.
Speaker 2:
Exactly so it always comes down to what is it that you're going to focus on so many people as they get older? Focus on walking. I don't like the gym. I don't like all the people in the gym. I don't like lifting weights. I don't like the physical strain that it causes. My joints hurt. I feel good walking. I'm going to go walk five miles, I'm going to go walk eight miles and I'm going to do it every single day. That's fine. It's not going to help you avoid an assisted living place. I'm just going to tell you straight up.
Speaker 2:
We just in this little town we were just at this weekend. That's where we go every 4th of July. It's called Willaca, just south of Palatka, just east of Gainesville, Florida. Just to give you a frame of reference, there's one red light in this town Used to be a flashing light.
Speaker 2:
Just a couple of years ago they made it an official red light and on Saturday we went there, went to the one tennis court that they have there and we're playing tennis and it's in a park and there was 30 people there, probably 30 people there, 4th of July flags and things everywhere. And I asked one of the ladies's going on what is this? And I'm don't, I'm just paraphrasing right now and it was the city council lady that was in charge of the town of wilaka. So, whatever that political state was, she started organizing a town walk every once a month, on Saturday. She invites the entire town to come do a walk. It's a three-mile walk and the purpose of it is to promote camaraderie, community and to start exercising, Because in these little tiny towns across America, exercise rarely occurs.
Speaker 1:
There's no gym in the town of Wallachia? Yeah, there's not and I've looked for that. We have to bring our own equipment to work out there.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so exercise is not a normal thing in this town. Exercise is not a normal thing in this town. So I overheard one person say that so. And so this lady over here has the record for this past month for consistently walking eight miles a day. And I look at this lady who's been walking eight miles a day and I'm looking at her and I'm going her legs are like toothpicks. Her abdominal area, her upper body and abdominal area was obese. So, yeah, she's walking eight miles a day. But here's my devil's advocate.
Speaker 1:
If she were to fall down on the ground, if she were to fall down on the ground, could she confidently and quickly get back up again? I'd say probably not with two pixels legs.
Speaker 2:
no, I'm looking at her going. There's no way those legs are strong enough to elevate her body mass up right. There's no way. Sure, she walked eight miles a day, but one bad step and she goes down.
Speaker 1:
She's not getting up again for the fact that you're moving. You are burning some calories, but you're not gaining the muscle mass, which is actually going to be the process that slows your aging process.
Speaker 2:
Exactly so. Everybody wants to know what's the one thing. If I could only do one thing, what's the one thing that I could do that will give me the best chance at staying out of a nursing home? What do you think it is, in your opinion? What exercise, what movement? Squats, squats is what I used to say, and it's not. Until recently I changed it from squats to lunges.
Speaker 1:
Okay, yeah, because to be able to get off on the ground, you have to push off on one leg.
Speaker 2:
Exactly so. Squats are great so that you can keep going out to restaurants and you can get out of the chairs and the booths at restaurants. That's great, so you can maintain your quality of life and social. But to avoid a nursing home, you got to be able to get up off the ground. When you inevitably end up there, everybody will inevitably end up on the ground sooner or later. Something's going to happen. You're going to trip, you're going to slip, you're going to end up on the ground. Can you get back up again?
Speaker 1:
I think just this weekend on our family trip we had three people fall. This weekend, Like just on different occasions, three people fell and had to get back up again and the quality of it.
Speaker 2:
I'm sitting here looking at the quality of it versus you and I you or I. We fall, we just pop back up again. A kid falls, they just pop back up again. When you're in your 50s, 60s and 70s, you go down. It's a little bit of an a chore right to back up again. You should have a vendetta against that. You should make it to where you could just pop back up again. You should be just intentionally doing 10 lunges on the right, 10 lunges on the left. See how fast you can do it every single freaking day.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, falling is the one thing that will significantly increase the aging process. Falling and not being able to recover, to get back up, breaking a hip is one of the highest rates of mortality out there. So once you break a hip past 70, your mortality rate significantly increases. But not just that is after we fall. Then we're fearful. We're fearful of injuring our back, we're fearful of falling again when we don't have that instinct, ability to be able to get up or the strength to be able to get up on our own.
Speaker 2:
Exactly, and it happens now. It happens in your 30s, it happens in your 40s, it happens in your 50s, it happens in your 60s. It doesn't just happen when you're in your 70s or 80, in your 40s, it happens in your 50s, it happens in your 60s, it doesn't just happen when you're in your 70s or 80s the process starts now.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, like my sister at 37 years old, took a tumble this weekend over vera, but she popped right back up, right back up again.
Speaker 2:
That's what I'm talking about. She's badass, she. She's in shape, she works her ass off. She does so she went down and she popped right back up again, versus we've got some friends in our group that if they went down there's no way they're popping back up that fast, right?
Speaker 1:
But her and I were out doing the burn boot camp workouts every morning in Willaco with body weight and bands. So that's the difference.
Speaker 2:
And I was not.
Speaker 1:
You ran one day.
Speaker 2:
One day and played tennis one day.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's more activity than you've done on trips in the past.
Speaker 2:
It is.
Speaker 1:
That's good. We're heading in the right direction Wakeboarding. You did wakeboard once.
Speaker 2:
That was hard.
Speaker 1:
We're still sore from that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, we're still sore.
Speaker 1:
I got up water skiing at 18 weeks, 18 and a half weeks pregnant.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it was a fun week.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, awesome, all right.
Speaker 2:
Like, subscribe. Share this episode with somebody that you know is getting old, right in front of your eyes. Share it with them. You're not going to be able to say anything to them, but maybe them hearing us say it might be just enough for them to start practicing their lunges. 10 lunges a day keeps Jake Berman away. I used to say 50 squats a day keeps Jake Berman away, and that's still true. However, I'm going to augment it and say 10 lunges a day on both legs keeps Jake Berman away.
Speaker 1:
Perfect, ciao for now. Thank you for subscribing on your social media and podcast platforms to the Berman Method Dr Jake Berman with Berman Physical Therapy and Jenny Berman, physician Assistant, with Berman Health and Wellness. You can find more information on our website wwwbermanptcom for physical therapy, wwwbermanptcom forward slash wellness for the health and wellness. You can also find us on social media, facebook, instagram and on your podcast platform, so be sure to follow us, like us, subscribe to us and, if you would like any further information, definitely visit our website and reach out to us. You may also find our free reports on the websites as well, where you can download this free information for yourself. Have a great day.
